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Marco Polo Permits: Tajikistan Ok; Kyrgyzstan Still Possible

(posted June 29, 2007)

The news on Marco Polo permits for American hunters is good. US Fish and Wildlife Service is issuing permits for Tajikistan and continues working with Kyrgyz officials to open the way for Americans to hunt Kyrgyzstan this season. We have that directly from Mike Carpenter at the Division of Management Authority for US Fish & Wildlife. Carpenter says the list of authorized hunters for Tajikistan has been finalized, and he expects to have all permits issued by late July. As for Kyrgyzstan, Carpenter says he has received some information from Krygyz officials regarding sheep populations but is awaiting the actual survey. "I need to see their methodology before issuing any permits," Carpenter told The Hunting Report.

You'll recall that Fish & Wildlife refused to issue permits for Kyrgyzstan last season because they had not received survey information by the May 31st deadline, effectively closing Marco Polo hunting for Americans in that country. For the last several months, word from Kyrgyzstan has been that a survey was completed and the results would be at Fish & Wildlife offices by the deadline this year. Although Carpenter did not receive the actual survey by the deadline, he says he is still willing to review it and consider issuing permits if the methodology and other information is acceptable. He was waiting to hear back from Kyrgyz officials on the delivery of the survey when we spoke with him late last week.

Just be aware that the survey is not the only thing Fish & Wildlife wants from Kyrgyz officials, however. Carpenter says that he is concerned about reports that Kyrgyz outfitters have allowed hunters unsatisfied with their trophies to shoot a second Marco Polo. He believes there is enough veracity to the reports that they will weigh heavily in the Service's decision to issue permits, even if the survey is satisfactory. Kyrgyz officials will have to convince the Service that they can prevent outfitters from shooting more sheep than their allotted number of permits. We will continue to follow this development closely and immediately issue another E-mail Extra Bulletin upon final word from the US Fish & Wildlife Service regarding Kyrgyzstan. - Barbara Crown.

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